Sunday, June 29, 2014

Markets Roundup May 2014

Renault Twizy - To Boldly Go Where no Other EV has Gone Before After a brilliant 2012, the Renault Twizy fashion sales slumped, leaving the french manufacturer no other choice than to go after fresher, less crowded markets.That's why Renault expanded Twizy sales to markets like Bulgaria (14 Twizies registered in 2013, two this year), Turkey (2 units in '14), or Morocco (7 in '13, 18 this year), but also to less obvious places like Kuwait (2 units this year) or Dubai (16 Twizies thus far!). BMW i3 - Bev vs Rex BreakdownThe numbers show an interesting balance between both versions, but there are differences from market to market, whereas the Northern Europe prefers Rex (Denmark, Sweden), the Central and Southern Europe tend to go for Bevs (Italy, Austria, Belgium), with the exception of France, where Rex is the favorite one.

Trends in the G7 The French market continues the slow return to form, growing for the forth consecutive time (EV share is at 0,77%), the Netherlands and Norway keep on cruising up high (5,10% and 16,66% EV Share for each one), while the US market benefited from a record month to reach a never-before-seen EV share of 0,75%The German market is continuing to improve (0,44% vs 0,33% EV share last month), with the Outlander PHEV winning consumers preferences in May.

China is going from strength to strength (0,15% share vs 0,08% last year), with monthly sales going up for the sixth month in a row(!), propelled by the ever-improving BYD Qin and the arrival of the Tesla Model S.

Largest Markets for EV's

Here are 16 top markets in the world regarding plug-in sales, making the largest contribution for the half a million EV's rolling around the world.

2014

All Time

USA

42.570

213.943

Japan

11.897

86.158

France

5.165

36.594

Norway

8.907

25.294

Germany

4.845

20.369

Netherlands

7.716

37.429

China

10.369

39.053

UK

2.366

10.444

Italy

579

4.448

Spain

326

3.756

Canada

1.580

7.167

Switzerland

699

4.120

Austria

644

3.423

Sweden

1.677

5.070

Belgium

896

3.528

Denmark

496

2.043

Continental Best SellersHaving seen the interest that the "Europe" article has in EVS, i've tried to do the same with the other continents and here's what i came up to:Americas

Nissan Leaf

10.747

T.
Prius Plug-In

7.771

Chevrolet
Volt

7.506

Tesla
Model S

5.798

Ford
Fusion Energi

4.346

It's the same ranking as the the US, only with the Volt closer to the Prius thanks to the Canadian sales

Africa

Nissan Leaf

+/- 90

Renault
Twizy

18

EV's are basically present in two african countries, Morocco, with the 18 Twizies sold, and South Africa where there's unconfirmed numbers saying that some 90 Leafs were sold to date.Asia

Nissan Leaf

5.679

Outlander PHEV

4.453

BYD
Qin

4.302

Chery
QQ3 EV

3.216

BYD e6

1.134

It's here that things get interesting, without direct contact in any market (Apart from the limited production of the Venucia "Leaf" in China), japanese and chinese cars share the ranking, and with the BYD Qin sales growing every month, i wouldn't be surprised that at some point in the near future the chinese plug-in would win the Best Selling EV title in Asia.Other MarketsSpain finally got a breath of fresh sales (119 units, best month of the year), while in other markets, sales are so brisk that it took them just five months to break last year numbers, like in Belgium (896 sales this year, 828 in '13), Poland (30 units in '14, the same as last year), and June comes with the promise of other markets reach the same goal, like Denmark (493 vs 522) or Sweden (1.677 vs 1.922).Questions for June

1 - Where will be beaten the next sales records?2 - Who will be #1 in Norway? And in Germany?

3 - Where will the Outlander PHEV #1?

4 - Will the Qin reach the 1.500 registrations?5 - Where will Tesla make a comeback and reach #1's?6 - Will the BMW i3 continue to win Best Selling titles?